Liverpool's players had the pitch to themselves as they celebrated long and hard after the final whistle.There was only one team in this Merseyside derby — and it wasn’t the team in red.

Seldom can a losing 2-0 scoreline have been inflicted on such a dominant force as Everton were yesterday, and while the fan who lobbed an orange balloon into Pepe Reina’s six-yard box at the Gwladys Street end at least managed to retain his sense of humour, Everton manager David Moyes struggled to see the funny side.

The similarities between Moyes and his Liverpool counterpart, Rafa Benitez, had been seemingly endless, from pressure mounting on their futures to a worrying lack of transfer funds and stalled plans for new stadiums.

Benitez at least had the good grace to admit as much, though he seemed to have little choice after the most revealing of responses to Glen Johnson’s attempts to play his way out of trouble midway inside his own half 10 minutes from time.

Animated at the best of times in the technical area, he was almost incandescent as he turned to face the Everton goal and kicked his right leg high into the air in a reprise of the Peter Kay beer advert that used to end with a voice bellowing ‘Ave it!’

This from one of Europe’s most astute tacticians, though nobody could blame him after the bombardment his side had endured in a raw, typically uncompromising derby.

Liverpool won it through a deflected Javier Mascherano drive that went down as a Joseph Yobo own goal and a late close-range finish from Dirk Kuyt after Everton keeper Tim Howard failed to hang on to a low shot from substitute Albert Riera.

There was more to it than that, though, not least a remarkable double save from Reina in the 71st minute that preserved Liverpool’s advantage, just when it was at its most fragile.

The Liverpool keeper is widely acknowledged as one of the best around and showed why with an agile leap to his left to keep out a close-range glancing header by Tim Cahill from John Heitinga’s free-kick.

Flying: Dirk Kuyt celebrates after scoring the clincher

Benitez also hailed an 'amazing' double-save from goalkeeper Jose
Reina 20 minutes from time when, with his side under pressure, the
Spain international dived low to his left to keep out Tim Cahill's
header and then stood up to block Marouane Fellaini's rebound.

'It was a great save from Pepe Reina, which was crucial also. He showed he is a top-class keeper,' said Benitez.

Fonz's approval: Actor Henry Winkler enjoys the match

'To defend a lot of throw-ins, corners and free-kicks during 90
minutes against a team which is good in the air as Everton is not easy
but he helped the team and in this situation he was amazing.'

Everton invited actor Henry Winkler, who famously played television's the Fonz and is currently in pantomime in Liverpool, to today's match but even he could not bring Happy Days back to Goodison Park.

Toffees manager David Moyes felt his side did not deserve to be
beaten but admitted Yobo's failure to clear Kuyt's cross in the
build-up to the second goal cost them a chance of getting anything from
the game.

'I don't feel we came off the pitch losers today. The players
worked extremely hard and they I felt they deserved more than what they
got in the end,' he said.

'The deflected goal took the sting out of us. I don't know how
many times Liverpool had been in our half up to that point but it
wasn't many.

'But I thought the players reacted great. They kept going and I thought in the main we kept Liverpool quiet.

Hey Jo: Everton's Brazilian striker wraps his long left leg around the ball

Marouane Fellaini has scarcely been at his sharpest this season, but he was still first to react to the loose ball as he closed in for the kill. Reina sensed the danger, though, and was on his feet in an instant to smother the follow-up from point-blank range and effectively kill off Everton’s hopes of clawing their way back into the match.

While Steven Gerrard looked a subdued figure amid the flying elbows — one from Fellaini left Lucas bitterly protesting over the gash it opened up on his cheek — and lunging tackles, Steven Pienaar proved it is possible for the game’s finer skills to flourish amid the mayhem.

Having a ball: Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina removes a beach ball from the pitch

Managers often refer to players having quick feet, and Pienaar demonstrated exactly what they mean inside the opening 10 minutes. Controlling the ball with his garish, fluorescent right boot, with Fabio Aurelio in close attendance, he turned an apparent drag back into a forward movement in a blur of lime green to leave his marker standing.

It was far from an isolated example of his swift thinking and fleet-footedness. While those around him tended to dwell on the ball for no more than a split second, he had the presence of mind, on the half-hour, to dart between two defenders on the right edge of the area and lift a shot that had Reina stretching to hold it above his head.

Even when the lime green boots gave way to a less striking white pair in the second half, he still shone through the gloom with a 58th-minute left-foot drive that almost embarrassed Reina. The Liverpool keeper dropped it between his feet but heaved a sigh of relief as it spun towards the line but stopped inches short.

Everton had only themselves to blame for not taking the lead in the 17th minute, when the last of three glancing headers across the face of Liverpool’s six-yard line fell at the feet of an unmarked Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, only for the Russia winger to screw a right-foot shot wide.

It was his weaker foot, perhaps, but the way Bilyaletdinov sank to his knees and covered his face with his hands suggested he wasn’t about to proffer such a feeble excuse for one of the misses of the season.

Everton could rightly claim fortune was against them, though, when Jo fired home from a fractionally offside position in the 33rd minute and Cahill and Fellaini were both denied by Reina’s heroics in the 71st minute.

Liverpool had been hustled out of their stride and forced to hang on any way they could, but in their current predicament, that hardly mattered. All that counted was that they had held out and kept a clean sheet for a second time inside a week.

Napoleon’s preference for lucky generals, rather than merely good ones, sprang to mind — and Benitez would doubtless concur. He had plenty of luck out there yesterday.